


To Live for Those Dead

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:18:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4140924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Han knows Luke hasn't really dealt with it all, and goes to fix that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Live for Those Dead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Niki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niki/gifts).



> Set immediately after _A New Hope_. My background for Han comes from Brian Daley's trilogy and other bits of non-canon.

Han rested a hand on Luke's shoulder… and was totally unsurprised when the kid jumped a parsec into the air. "Easy, Kid," Han said in a low rumble to try and bring the farmboy back to the decks of this remote outpost. Sure, the whole Rebellion was packing up as fast as they could, but Han could tell Luke was at loose ends, waiting for something definitive to actually fly against. "Have you relaxed at all since the battle, since the award ceremony?" he continued, knowing the answer.

Neither one of them had seen much of the high and mighty princess since she had put medals around their necks. This base was evacuating, a bit slower than some others had been, but the Empire was not defeated just because their precious Death Star had been blown up. Long-range surveillance said that a small fleet had already been dispatched this way to deal with the 'Rebel scum'.

Other bits of intelligence Han had heard said the Empire had stuck a thermal detonator in a pool of pod-racer fuel by destroying Alderaan. Systems that had not cared one way or the other were beginning to resist Imperial decree. It was about to get a lot more dangerous being unaffiliated and freelancing -- as Han thought of his smuggling business. There was also still that small problem of delivering his pay for this run to Jabba, so he could get clear of his debt.

He just couldn't bring himself to leave Luke, not right away, when the Kid was really coming down from the whirlwind he'd been living in.

"Still just trying to find my place," Luke muttered. "Ben's gone, Biggs is gone; I lost my aunt and uncle back on Tatooine," he told Han, eyes unfocused and staring into nothing. "I don't know enough about how this all works to really help much until they have me fly escort out of here, and…." His voice trailed off as Han slid around in front of him. Luke looked up at the older man, and Han almost winced to see that lost kid staring up at him, as if expecting him to make sense of it all.

"Come on; Chewie's gone to dig up some components for the Falcon, and it'll be quiet aboard her."

"Yeah, alright," Luke agreed, letting Han take charge for now. The smuggler guided his buddy back to the Falcon, on up the lowered ramp and back to the crew quarters. Those were cramped, but for what Han had in mind, he didn't need much room. Luke tensed a little, but Han gave him a little push to the bunk.

"Stretch out, Kid, while I find something for us," Han told him in a light tone. "You need to relax, and that's going to take more than just booze, ya know."

"I don't drink… or I haven't, not really." Luke grimaced, thinking of the stolen drinks shared with his friends back home, including Biggs.

"I'm not going to get you drunk, Kid. Just a little something to loosen you up, let you talk out the crap hand you just played through, even if you did make it win the pot." Han busied himself at the dispenser, finding a bottle of some brandy he'd picked up cheap in the Outer Sectors, and making a couple of thermal cups of soup. Luke must have decided not to argue, because when he turned around, the Kid was leaning up on one elbow, boots off, and his belt slung over the hook by the bunk.

Well, that was partway to what Han had in mind.

Han pushed the soup into Luke's free hand, put the brandy on the shelf near his head, then got his own and came back over, sitting on the edge of the bunk, mindful of his head on the overhead compartment. As he sipped on his soup, he toed off his boots, letting them hit the floor, and just sat in quiet with Luke while they finished off food and drink.

Luke, once he'd finished off the offerings, laid back with both his hands under his head, staring at the overhead compartment. Han could tell he wasn't really seeing them, was just going through the events in his head, over and over again.

"Luke…" he called, after having taken off his own belt and vest, dropping both on the floor carefully. "You can't keep asking yourself if you'd done this different or that a little quicker, maybe they'd be alive still," Han said, pushing away memories of himself as a bright-eyed kid with a future in the Empire, paved by the military Academy. "There's only one real way to beat the way their loss hits you in the gut."

The kid turned his eyes toward Han, not speaking, but one eyebrow going up.

"Live." The word came out gruff, pushed by memories of people who had died, when Han had made it out alive and mostly in one piece. He owed Chewie for a lot of that, actually. "You don't spit on what happened to them by refusing to keep going."

"I'm not!" Luke immediately protested, but stopped as Han held up his hand.

"Not saying you are. But there's more. You can't just wallow in the past. You learn from it, sure. That's how you stay alive. And staying alive? That's the way to make their deaths matter, Kid. Because you living is going to be the biggest, hardest, sharpest thorn in the Empire's side to get back at everyone who killed the ones you loved."

"What about when it hurts too much to want to?" Luke asked softly.

Han gave him the sly, half-mocking, half-inviting smirk he had cultivated to hide all the pain. "You find someone that reminds you there's more than pain in life." He let his hand fall on the leg nearest him, eyes locked on Luke's face. The kid swallowed hard, eyes closing for a long moment, long enough that Han started to pull away rather than risk the friendship.

Luke shot up, grabbing for him, and Han just went with the pull. The kid got it, knew Han was right, and Han was going to take care of him.


End file.
